Results tagged “women” from Uncivil Society
My last post featured a BBC satire of charitable fundraisers typified by a calculus of moral nihilism. Here's an upcoming event that's far more thoughtful: the Disabled and Sexy fashion show for the UK's Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Dystrophy.
Unlike the ersatz porn stars of the Ladies Guild of Kneesley, this Notting Hill event isn't just about doing anything for cash. The fashion show reflects how the charity does more than treat a disease, an effort that itself can make people feel as if they've been reduced to a set of symptoms. Rather, the initiative celebrates the participants' full humanity, an aim that is as meaningful as providing medical care.
Kissing a piece of paper for charity seems to have replaced the traditional kissing booth, which would today be seen less as a fun fundraiser than a hub for spreading the flu.
If the above vintage ad's strategy of prescribing carb-filled crackers to lose weight seems goofily retro (not to mention sexist), check out this new research on carbs as the dietary key to personal happiness.
Via Jezebel, a sign that environmentalism has become too trendy for its own good: a new line of eco-sexy costumes. From the ad copy:
This costume is perfect for the eco friendly consumer. Help spread the eco friendly message! Go Green Girl - includes green pleated mini dress featuring recycling badge, white lace and ribbon embellishments, and GO GREEN! Screen print on the butt removable Recyclers Do It Twice pin and earth bag. Costume is packaged in recyclable paper bag. Please note does not include stockings or shoes. This eco-friendly costume is Available in Adult Sizes X-Small, Small, Medium, and Large.
Made of 100% Organic Cotton.
We are doomed.
Here's a fascinating set of photos documenting Asgarda, a group of women who have formed their own alternate society "based on the the tribal traditions of the Scythian Amazons of ancient Greek mythology."
Jezebel has an excellent roundup of information regarding Asgarda, including this excellent first-person account from the photographer.
In a world without sexual harassment law, Auctioning Charity uses a charity auction as the launching point for reflection on the tension between commerce and human dignity--well, that and the fulfillment of a boss's fantasy to dominate Charity, his female VP. An excerpt:
“It’s about the executive auction,” she said. . . .
“The image of the female on the auction block,” she said now, evidently deciding on the direct approach, “is rather repugnant, don’t you think?”
He narrowed his gaze. “As opposed to a male being sold?”
Her full lips formed into a pouty, irritated frown. Oh, how he would like to explore the full range of her emotions, putting her under absolute control, manipulating her pleasure and her pain, her agony and ecstasy, for endless hours.
To begin, he would like to take her in his arms and overpower her with a kiss, reducing all her arguments to a single, panting, breathing motion, only one word left in her vocabulary—Yes.
Correction—two. Yes, Master.
“You know what I mean, Roger. There are a preponderance of images and cultural metaphors surrounding the exploitation of the female body.”
Roger snorted. “Good heavens, woman, it’s a charity dinner. I have no intention of selling you into white slavery.”
No, he just intends to buy her.
Sad to say, I've met executives just like Roger.
Blah.
Via Copyranter, a classic example of a sexist ad promoting the interests of a trade association. Don't want to be turned down? Be like rice, which "never intrudes. Never gets in the way."
Also worth checking out for folks interested in sexist ads, this blog dedicated to sexist marketing--and, of course, Sarah Haskins' Target Women.
Below: UK candy bar Yorkie--"IT'S NOT FOR GIRLS!"
The social enterprise community has celebrated the power of The Girl Effect, a video that uses Flash typography to make a simplistic yet appealing claim for helping girls become economically independent.
Below: a viral conservative Christian video uses a similar rhetorical technique to different ends:
Are ANIMATED BOLD ALL CAPS really an effective means of persuasion, or do they merely reinforce pre-existing values?
A proposed public service project in Thailand: invite men to remove the bra of an amply endowed woman, only to have them find that the breasts have actually been removed due to cancer.
The idea is you'll have your awareness raised so you'll want to "complete" women's lives by giving a donation for replacement artificial breasts.
Whatever the virtue of the cause itself, gimmicks like this are why you'll never hear me say I want to "raise awareness":
A must-see exhibit with a must-buy book: The Brinkley Girls, exploring the art of Nell Brinkley:
Nell Brinkley widened her scope to include pen and ink depictions of working women. Brinkley used her fame to campaign for better working conditions and higher pay for women who had joined in the war effort, and who were suffering economic and social dislocation due to acting on their patriotism. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she drew women of different races and cultures.
By curing women of B.O.! Which, apparently, men didn't have back in 1934. Larger size here.
A key thing to note re the history of hygiene: grandma's advice to "bathe regularly"--a relatively recent social norm.
By enabling married women to get day jobs! An ad from 1936.
Believe it or not, this actually has something to do with the X-Men defeating in hunger in Africa. Progressive Ruin has more about 1980s comic book charitable fundraisers.
Via Journalista.
An intriguing Ad Age podcast* on the marketing success of the Dos Equis promotion featuring a traveling freak show got me thinking about how charities use carnivals to raise funds. A post here a couple days ago noted that carnival events at ag fairs can be exempt from the unrelated business income tax. Above: The Burlesque Breast Fest, an upcoming "burlesque carnival event" to benefit breast cancer survivor programs. Featured dancers, an astrologer and psychic, circus performers--all in all, a night of "fun festive fundraising."
There's even an alcohol tie-in: sponsorship by P.I.N.K. Vodka, including an open bar!
Picture via Sucia @ Madame X
*If you're into social enterprisey things, the 3 Minute Ad Age podcasts are chock full of useful strategies and insights.
Sarah Gordon, a New York poll worker, was raised by her grandmother--born in 1862--and great-greatmother, who was born under slavery.
Coy about her exact age, Mrs. Gordon is in her 10th decade and came into the world before women could vote. After the early death of her mother, she was raised in rural North Carolina by her grandmother Mary Parker, born in 1862. She lived until she was 105. Grandmother Parker was born to a slave named Molly Sykes.
As a young girl, Sarah Gordon often sat in the lap of Great-Grandmother Sykes, who lived to be 106, long enough to tell her of life on a plantation as the property of whites.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Gordon sat in a chair behind a folding table in her polling place, helping to manage the surge of people who had lined up to cast a vote for the first black president.
“They were coming all morning,†Mrs. Gordon said. “It is because we will never see this again. The older people like myself, who always had the intention of seeing it, but didn’t think they would, they are coming to vote. They want to be part of something we never thought we would see.â€
Speaking of the relation between faith and markets, this book offers fascinating insight into how religion can shape commerce:
The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie -- The most outrageous and exuberant lingerie in the world comes from a place you’d probably never expect: Syria. Adorned with everything from faux fur, artificial flowers, and feathered birds to plastic toy cell phones, these intimates flash lights, play music, even vibrate. Well known across the Middle East—in Syria the lingerie forms an important part of the folk tradition around trousseaus and weddings—it is openly displayed in the markets and souks.
As Sadie Stein aptly observes, the thesis is even more interesting:
The authors find that the more religious the area — and correspondingly, conservative women's outerwear — "the more risqué the underwear."
Class prep kept me from my web reading, which is why I missed that yesterday was Global Pink Hijab Day, in which "muslim women across the world [wore] a Pink Hijab to raise awareness for breast cancer."
I really need to set up a calendar to keep track of charitable days . . . and weeks . . . and months . . .
Blog@ has been doing a bang-up job covering comics and charity--so much so, in fact, that it's inspiring me to toss in a few thoughts of my own, particularly in a few weeks when I'm covering some related material in nonprofit law class.
For now, head on over there for a report on the upcoming Wonder Woman Day in Oregon & New Jersey, to benefit domestic violence shelters.
Fighting against domestic violence has a long history in comics--it was the subject of this memorable scene from Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman:
You could write a law & design article on this ad from Wednesday's WWD. "Shop play give;" the graphic with the child and his trophy mom; the co-sponsored cause marketing by an upscale mommy mag and a credit card company; the intersection of a business-promoting breast cancer charity with a nonprofit organization designed to increase commerce in Manhattan's elite Upper East Side--really, this ad has it all.
Even in an economic crisis, it seems, charity is easy--all ya gotta do to do good is shop.
Media communities are buzzing about this group's success in getting Scholastic to withdraw the Bratz line from in-school book fairs.
Here's the organization's slightly edited mission:
CCFC's mission is to reclaim childhood from corporate marketers. A marketing-driven media culture sells children on behaviors and values driven by the need to promote profit rather than the public good. The commercialization of childhood is the link between many of the most serious problems facing children, and society, today. When children adopt the values that dominate commercial culture . . . the health of democracy and sustainability of our planet are threatened.
Much better, it seems, to go back to a more innocent time before kids were corrupted by corporate values.
Like in this old children's book:
